On the politicization of intergovernmental fiscal relations in Germany after unification

A recent decision of the German Constitutional Court requires political decision makers to revise the system of intergovernmental transfers in order to limit free bargaining among state and federal government officials. The present paper provides empirical support for the thesis that political discretion has become increasingly important in the transfer negotiations after Unification. We attempt to show why political influences gained weight relative to economic considerations in the determination of net gains. This politicization of the fiscal transfer system appears to be a consequence of the inability of policy makers to agree on a fundamental reform in the early 1990's.

Scalings of matrices which have prespecified row sums and column sums via optimization

AbstractThe problem of scaling a matrix so that it has given row and column sums is transformed into a convex minimization problem. In particular, we use this transformation to characterize the existence of such scaling or corresponding approximations. We obtain new results as well as new, streamlined proofs of known results

Legislative malapportionment and the politicization of Germany's intergovernmental transfer system

Legislative bargaining theory suggests that fiscal transfers among member states of a federation are determined to a substantial degree by political bargaining powers. Malapportionment of the states' population in the legislature is claimed to lead to disproportionally higher benefits to overrepresented states. The present paper analyses empirically the distribution of fiscal transfers in Germany's intergovernmental transfer system over the period 1970-2002. It can be shown that overrepresented states in the upper house receive disproportionate shares of transfers, while malapportionment in the lower house does not seem to matter. We also find empirical evidence that overrepresentation became more important over time

Monomial patterns in the sequence Akb

AbstractWe consider the pattern of zero and nonzero elements in the sequence Akb, where A is an n × n nonnegative matrix and b is an n × 1 nonnegative column vector. We establish a tight bound of k < n for the first occurrence of a given monomial pattern, and we give a graph theoretic characterization of triples (A, b, i) such that there exists a k, k ⩾ n, for which Akb is an i-monomial. The appearance of monomial patterns with a single nonzero entry is linked to controllability of discrete n-dimensional linear dynamic systems with positivity constraints on the state and control

"Tolerization" of human T-helper cell clones by chronic exposure to alloantigen

Induction of clonal anergy in T-helper (Th) cells may have a role in regulating immune responses. A model system for studying Th cell tolerization at the clonal level in vitro could be useful for investigating the mechanisms involved. Accordingly, alloreactive helper cells were maintained in culture with interleukin 2 (IL 2) by intermittent stimulation with specific antigen. Regardless of the frequency of antigen stimulation, clones of age less than ca. 35 population doublings (PD) were found to undergo antigen-specific autocrine clonal expansion in the absence of exogenous IL 2. Such young clones (designated as phase I) could therefore not be "tolerized" by frequent exposure to antigen. In contrast, most clones of age greater than ca. 35 PD could be tolerized by frequent exposure to antigen (designated as phase II clones). Their autocrine proliferation was then blocked, although they still recognized antigen specifically as shown by their retained ability to secrete interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The mechanism of response failure involved both an inability to upregulate IL 2 receptors in the absence of exogenous IL 2, as well as an inability to secrete IL 2. These defects were not overcome by stimulation with mitogens or calcium ionophore and phorbol esther in place of alloantigen. T-cell receptor, alpha, beta, and gamma-chain gene rearrangements remained identical in phase I and phase II clones. Tolerization of phase II clones could be avoided by increasing the period between antigen exposures. Despite this, whether or not phase II cells were capable of autocrine proliferation, they were found to have acquired the novel function of inducing suppressive activity in fresh lymphocytes. Suppressor-induction was blocked by the broadly reactive MHC class II-specific monoclonal antibody (moAb) TU39, but not by moAb preferentially reacting only with HLA-DR, DQ, or DP. Sequential immunoprecipitation on T-cell clones showed the presence of a putative non-DR, DQ, DP, TU39+ molecule on phase II clones. However, this molecule was also found on phase I clones. The nature of the TU39-blockable suppressor-inducing determinant present on phase II but not on (most) phase I clones thus remains to be clarified. In addition to suppressor-induction activity, phase II clones also acquired lytic potential as measured in a lectin approximation system. Cytotoxic (CTX) potential was also not influenced by the frequency of antigenic stimulation and could be viewed as a constitutive modulation of clonal functio

Microstructure, grain boundary evolution and anisotropic Fe segregation in (0001) textured Ti thin films

The structure and chemistry of grain boundaries (GBs) are crucial in determining polycrystalline materials' properties. Faceting and solute segregation to minimize the GB energy is a commonly observed phenomenon. In this paper, a deposition process to obtain pure tilt GBs in titanium (Ti) thin films is presented. By increasing the power density, a transition from polycrystalline film growth to a maze bicrystalline Ti film on SrTiO3 (001) substrate is triggered. All the GBs in the bicrystalline thin film are characterized to be Sigma 13 [00 01] coincident site lattice (CSL) boundaries. The GB planes are seen to distinctly facet into symmetric {(7) over bar 520} and {13 (4) over bar0} and asymmetric {10 (1) over bar0} // {11 (2) over bar0} segments of 20-50 nm length. Additionally, EDS reveals preferential segregation of iron (Fe) in every symmetric {(7) over bar 520} segment. Both the faceting and the segregation are explained by a difference in the CSL density between the facet planes. Furthermore, in the GB plane containing Fe segregation, atom probe tomography is used to experimentally determine the GB excess solute to be 1.25 atoms/nm(2). In summary, the study reveals for the first time a methodology to obtain bicrystalline Ti thin films with strong faceting and an anisotropy in Fe segregation behaviour within the neighbouring GB facets. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc

Electron-phonon-scattering dynamics in ferromagnetic metals and its influence on ultrafast demagnetization processes

We theoretically investigate spin-dependent carrier dynamics due to the electron-phonon interaction after ultrafast optical excitation in ferromagnetic metals. We calculate the electron-phonon matrix elements including the spin-orbit interaction in the electronic wave functions and the interaction potential. Using the matrix elements in Boltzmann scattering integrals, the momentum-resolved carrier distributions are obtained by solving their equation of motion numerically. We find that the optical excitation with realistic laser intensities alone leads to a negligible magnetization change, and that the demagnetization due to electron-phonon interaction is mostly due to hole scattering. Importantly, the calculated demagnetization quenching due to this Elliot-Yafet type depolarization mechanism is not large enough to explain the experimentally observed result. We argue that the ultrafast demagnetization of ferromagnets does not occur exclusively via an Elliott-Yafet type process, i.e., scattering in the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, but is influenced to a large degree by a dynamical change of the band structure, i.e., the exchange splitting

Sagittarius Tidal Debris 90 kpc from the Galactic Center

A new overdensity of A-colored stars in distant parts of the Milky Way's stellar halo, at a dereddened SDSS magnitude of g_0 = 20.3, is presented. Identification of associated variable RR Lyrae candidates supports the claim that these are blue horizontal branch stars. The inferred distance of these stars from the Galactic center is 90 kpc, assuming the absolute magnitude of these stars is M_g_0 = 0.7 and that the Sun is 8.5 kpc from the Galactic center. The new tidal debris is within 10 kpc of same plane as other confirmed tidal debris from the disruption of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy, and could be associated with the trailing tidal arm. Distances to the Sagittarius stream estimated from M stars are about 13% smaller than our inferred distances. The tidal debris has a width of at least 10 degrees, and is traced for more than 20 degrees across the sky. The globular cluster NGC 2419 is located within the detected tidal debris, and may also have once been associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.Comment: 4 figures, ApJL in pres

Hail formation triggers rapid ash aggregation in volcanic plumes.

During explosive eruptions, airborne particles collide and stick together, accelerating the fallout of volcanic ash and climate-forcing aerosols. This aggregation process remains a major source of uncertainty both in ash dispersal forecasting and interpretation of eruptions from the geological record. Here we illuminate the mechanisms and timescales of particle aggregation from a well-characterized 'wet' eruption. The 2009 eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska, incorporated water from the surface (in this case, a glacier), which is a common occurrence during explosive volcanism worldwide. Observations from C-band weather radar, fall deposits and numerical modelling demonstrate that hail-forming processes in the eruption plume triggered aggregation of ∼95% of the fine ash and stripped much of the erupted mass out of the atmosphere within 30 min. Based on these findings, we propose a mechanism of hail-like ash aggregation that contributes to the anomalously rapid fallout of fine ash and occurrence of concentrically layered aggregates in volcanic deposits.AVE acknowledges NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship EAR1250029 and a seed grant from NASA Ames Supercomputing Center. Integrated Data Viewer (IDV) software from UCAR/Unidata was used in the analysis and visualization of the large-eddy simulation. ASTER GDEM is a product of NASA and METI. NCAR Reanalysis data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL Physical Sciences Division, Boulder, Colorado, USA. We acknowledge Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, for access to the laser particle size analyzer, and Matt Rogers at University of Alaska, Anchorage for use of the freeze dryer. Rick Hoblitt is thanked for discussions and comments on the manuscript.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms886